WUS Thread: 293 Years of PChZ Exhibition

Raketa watches...

293 Years of PChZ Exhibition -- link to WUS thread containing a link to pictures from the exhibition.

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St. Petersburg Watchmaker Counters Sanctions by Refusing to Sell Abroad | The St. Petersburg Times

St. Petersburg Watchmaker Counters Sanctions by Refusing to Sell Abroad (link to source)

Turns out M.  Jacques von Polier of the Raketa Watch Factory is a patriot.

Russia's oldest and largest mechanical watchmaker says it will stop selling its most prestigious self-winding watches abroad as long as the "decadent" West continues to impose "unfair" sanctions over Russia's involvement in Ukraine.

Jacques von Polier, the French CEO of the Petrodvorets Watch Factory in St. Petersburg, said the company will refrain from selling to foreign retailers its upmarket Avtomat (Automatic) watches, which use the wearer's wrist movement to wind automatically.

"The sanctions are totally unfair. The world wants to make Russia the only guilty country in the Ukraine conflict, but the situation is not simply black-and-white. The sanctions are pouring oil on the fire," he told The St. Petersburg Times on Monday.

No more Raketa watches for the decadent West

The company, famous for its nostalgic Soviet-style Raketa (Rocket) and Pobeda (Victory) brands, said in a recent press release that it had decided to "answer to the decadent Western countries" because "workers of the factory are shocked by these rude and unfair sanctions."

Von Polier, who has been trying to restore the aging factory's Soviet prestige since joining in 2009, said the refusal to sell the Avtomat watches, which can retail for more than $1,000, would have little effect on his business. Indeed, for the Russia-focused company, the move is a nifty piece of PR.

"There is so much demand in Russia that we don't need Western markets"

"There is so much demand in Russia that we don't need Western markets," he said, adding that the measure is at least partially a marketing gimmick to jump on a groundswell of patriotism in Russia as the country's standoff with the West continues.

Marketing opportunities

Petrodvorets seized the marketing opportunity early. Around the time of the annexation, it released a special-edition "Crimea Victory 2014" watch, which had originally been intended to commemorate 70 years since the peninsula's liberation from the Nazis in World War II.

Von Polier, whose great-grandmother was born in Crimea, said by phone that "for me, Crimea has always been Russian."

Petrodvorets also said it was recommending a law to Russia's parliament to forbid state officials from buying Western-brand watches as presents for employees and associates.

Petrodvorets is Russia's only producer of a complete mechanical watch movement, and Von Polier said it would continue to sell parts — specifically, springs and escapements — to watchmakers in Switzerland to fulfill demand after Swatch Group announced it would stop selling movements to competing brands.

"We are proud that we are one of only four or five manufacturers in the world that can produce such movements," he said.

The same article in the "Moscow" Times. 

The New Raketa Automatic?

 First the Raketa Amphibian and now the Raketa Automatic.

Apparently Raketa Watches sent a letter to some members of a Russian watch forum (watch.ru), in which it told them about their forthcoming new Raketa Automatic with pictures, including an advertising poster for the new watch due to go on sale early 2014. Here are those pictures. 

Nice touch. Unless, of course, it is another attempt at free Taliban (i.e. guerrilla) advertising by the Raketa company.

Personally, I miss the Raketa of old - before von Polier - with watches priced at $30 - $40 with a wide variety of dials. 

Is This the New Raketa Amphibian?

About a week back a French watch forum did an exclusive with pictures on the new Raketa Amphibia, automatic, with Raketa 2615 movement.

Link: Alexander B. Brodnikovsky's Collection of Raketa Watches and Clocks

In this thread in Russian on Watch.ru, a Russian watch forum, you can have a good look at Alexander B. Brodnikovsky's collection of Raketa watches and clocks as it was displayed recently on the occasion of the 292nd anniversary of the Petrodvorets Watch Factory, the maker of Raketa watches. 

Alexander B. Brodnikovsky's collection is probably the largest collection of Raketa watches anywhere in the world. 

I especially recommend these posts -- where the pictures are:

Post # 10 

Post # 11 

Post # 31 

Post # 39 

Raketa Early Bitcoin Adopter

It appears that Russian watch manufacturer Raketa is an early adopter of Bitcoin currency and may even be the first watch company in the world to do so according this Bitcoin gets big bets from tech industry.

Quote:

While it's unclear whether regulators will sign off on the untested concept, Bitcoin is increasingly finding favour with merchants that range from blogging site Reddit to watch manufacturer Raketa.